Regulating the geological sequestration of CO2

Governments worldwide should provide incentives for initial large-scale GS projects to help build the knowledge base for a mature, internationally harmonized GS regulatory framework. Health, safety, and environmental risks of these early projects can be managed through modifications of existing regulations in the EU, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. An institutional mechanism, such as the proposed Federal Carbon Sequestration Commission in the U.S., should gather data from these early projects and combine them with factors such as GS industrial organization and climate regime requirements to create an efficient and adaptive regulatory framework suited to large-scale deployment. Mechanisms to structure long-term liability and fund long-term postclosure care must be developed, most likely at the national level, to equitably balance the risks and benefits of this important climate change mitigation technology. We need to do this right. During the initial field experiences, a single major accident, resulting from inadequate regulatory oversight, anywhere in the world, could seriously endanger the future viability of GS. That, in turn, could make it next to impossible to achieve the needed dramatic global reductions in CO2 emissions over the next several decades. We also need to do it quickly. Emissions are going up, the climate is changing, and impacts are growing. The need for safe and effective CO2 capture with deep GS is urgent.     

Photoactivatable GFP tagging cassettes for protein-tracking studies in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Yeast cell biologists use a variety of fluorescent protein tags for determining protein localization and for measuring protein dynamics using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). Although many modern fluorescent proteins, such as those with photoactivatable and photoconvertible characteristics, have been developed, none has been exploited for studies in budding yeast. We describe here the construction of yeast-tagging vectors containing photoactivatable green fluorescent protein (PA-GFP) for analysis of protein behaviour. We tagged two yeast proteins, Erg6p and Num1p, with PA-GFP and demonstrated specific photoactivation of the fusion proteins in live cells. Fluorescence intensity measurements showed that a short 5 s exposure to 413 nm light is sufficient to produce the maximum level of activated GFP fluorescence. Local photoactivation of cortical Num1p-PA-GFP showed movement of the marked proteins, providing new insights into the behaviour of Num1p at the cell cortex. Since photoactivation can be achieved using standard mercury arc illumination, the PA-GFP tag represents a convenient and economical way to determine protein dynamics in the cell. Thus, the tagging modules should facilitate protein-tracking studies in a wide variety of cell biological processes in yeast.     

Sulfonylguanidine Derivatives as Potential Antimelanoma Agents

Sulfonylguanidines are interesting bioactive compounds with a broad range of applications in the treatment of different pathologies. 2-Aminobenzazole-based structures are well employed in the development of new anticancer drugs. Two series of novel N-benzazol-2-yl-N′-sulfonyl guanidine derivatives were synthesized with the sulfonylguanidine in either an extra- or intracyclic frame. They were evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against malignant melanoma tumor cells, thus allowing structure-activity relationships to be defined. Additionally, NCI-60 screening was performed for the best analogue to study its efficiency against a panel of other cancer cell lines. The stability profile of this promising compound was then validated. During the synthetic process, an unexpected new deamidination of the sulfonylguanidine towards sulfonamide function was also identified.     

Speciation of copper in high chloride concentrations,in the context of corrosion of copper canisters

Canisters with a cast iron insert for mechanical strength and a 50-mm thick copper shell as corrosion protection are planned to be used for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in Sweden and Finland. Chloride can be considered “beneficial”, as it promotes active dissolution of copper rather than passivation (which might result in pitting), but a high concentration of chloride in solution would increase the driving force for corrosion through the formation of soluble copper chloro complexes. Thermodynamic calculations are performed in this study with the PHREEQC software and three of its accompanying databases, and a comparison with experimental data is performed to select the database to be used when evaluating repository performance. The activity coefficient models are given special attention. For the assessment of chloride-assisted corrosion of a KBS-3 canister, chloride concentrations pessimistically up to 5 mol/kg are used (in Finland and Sweden, the groundwater and bentonite porewater chloride concentrations are not expected to exceed 1 mol/kg). The resulting copper solubilities are then considered in different mass transport cases.     

Magneto-polaron induced intersubband optical transition in a wide band gap II–VI semiconductor quantum dot

Effects of LO-phonon contribution on the electronic and the optical properties are investigated in a Cd_0.8Zn_0.2Se/ZnSe quantum dot in the presence of magnetic field strength. The magneto-polaron induced hydrogenic binding energy as a function of dot radius in the wide band gap quantum dot is calculated. The oscillator strength and the spontaneous lifetime are studied taking into account the spatial confinement, magnetic field strength and the phonon contribution. Numerical calculations are carried out using variational formulism within the single band effective mass approximation. The optical properties are computed with the compact density matrix method. The magneto-polaron induced optical gain as a function of photon energy is observed. The results show that the optical telecommunication wavelength in the fiber optic communications can be achieved using CdSe/ZnSe semiconductors and it can be tuned with the proper applications of external perturbations.     

Trans-Splicing Improvement by the Combined Application of Antisense Strategies

Spliceosome-mediated RNA trans-splicing has become an emergent tool for the repair of mutated pre-mRNAs in the treatment of genetic diseases. RNA trans-splicing molecules (RTMs) are designed to induce a specific trans-splicing reaction via a binding domain for a respective target pre-mRNA region. A previously established reporter-based screening system allows us to analyze the impact of various factors on the RTM trans-splicing efficiency in vitro. Using this system, we are further able to investigate the potential of antisense RNAs (AS RNAs), presuming to improve the trans-splicing efficiency of a selected RTM, specific for intron 102 of COL7A1. Mutations in the COL7A1 gene underlie the dystrophic subtype of the skin blistering disease epidermolysis bullosa (DEB). We have shown that co-transfections of the RTM and a selected AS RNA, interfering with competitive splicing elements on a COL7A1-minigene (COL7A1-MG), lead to a significant increase of the RNA trans-splicing efficiency. Thereby, accurate trans-splicing between the RTM and the COL7A1-MG is represented by the restoration of full-length green fluorescent protein GFP on mRNA and protein level. This mechanism can be crucial for the improvement of an RTM-mediated correction, especially in cases where a high trans-splicing efficiency is required.     

Mediated Electrochemistry to Mimic Biology's Oxidative Assembly of Functional Matrices

Biology uses diffusible oxidants to perform functions that range from signaling to matrix assembly, and these oxidation chemistries offer surprising selectivities. Here, it is reported that mediated electrochemistry can access the richness of such oxidation chemistries. Specifically, electrode‐imposed voltage inputs are used to locally generate oxidized mediators that can diffuse into polymer solutions and induce the formation of covalent bonds for the deposition and functionalization of hydrogels at the electrode surface. Depending on the mediator's redox potential (E⁰), it is possible to “gate” the voltage inputs to target specific residues (e.g., thiols or amines) and oxidation chemistries. Further, mediators of varying E⁰ offer different reactivities and thus allow control of reaction‐diffusion rates to modulate the hydrogel's crosslink density and mechanical properties. Importantly, this mediated oxidation can be performed under physiologically relevant conditions to preserve labile biological functionalities (e.g., cell viability and protein function). Finally, it is demonstrated that protein fusion tags can be engineered to have “targetable” amino acid residues that enable protein function to be oxidatively conjugated to electrodeposited hydrogels. In summary, mediated electrochemistry can engage orthogonal oxidation chemistries to create functionalized matrices and thus mediated electrochemistry should add important capabilities to the electrofabrication toolbox.     

Downward Flame Spread Rate Over PMMA Rods Under External Radiant Heating

Fire Technology - There are multiple situations in which fires may occur at environmental conditions that are different than standard atmospheric conditions. Changes in ambient pressure, oxygen...     

Elucidating the challenges for the praxis of fog computing: An aspect‐based study

The evolutionary advancements in the field of technology have led to the instigation of cloud computing. The Internet of Things paradigm stimulated the extensive use of sensors distributed across the network edges. The cloud datacenters are assigned the responsibility for processing the collected sensor data. Recently, fog computing was conceptuated as a solution for the overwhelmed narrow bandwidth. The fog acts as a complementary layer that interplays with the cloud and edge computing layers, for processing the data streams. The fog paradigm, as any distributed paradigm, has its set of inherent challenges. The fog environment necessitates the development of management platforms that effectuates the orchestration of fog entities. Owing to the plenitude of research efforts directed toward these issues in a relatively young field, there is a need to organize the different research works. In this study, we provide a compendious review of the research approaches in the domain, with special emphasis on the approaches for orchestration and propose a multilevel taxonomy to classify the existing research. The study also highlights the application realms of fog computing and delineates the open research challenges in the domain.